2011:

3DS - 13,250,062

PSV - 481,573

PSP - 7,326,647

DS - 8,828,665

Total - 29,886,947

2012:

3DS - 14,479,593

PSV - 3,745,701

PSP - 3,051,766

DS - 3,675,159

Total - 24,952,219

100/29,866,947x24,952,219 = 83.5

Therefore, the handheld market declined by a whopping 16.5% this year!

Despite the Vitas success and the 3DS being up YOY, the handheld market has continued it's descent into oblivion this year. Indeed, despite the new generation of handhelds being released and receiving good dev support the market has continued to decline. The reason? Smartphones and tablets. Whether people like to admit it or not, there's no doubt that smartphones and tablets are killing consumer demand for dedicated gaming handhelds. Why would consumers want to spend £30+ on a game when they can get a huge variety of enjoyable games on the App Store, etc. for free? Smartphones and tablets aren't going anywhere soon either, so decicated gaming handhelds need to somehow adapt to the times or be lost in the dusts of time. 

I think that next year the decicated gaming handheld market will continue to decline and total sales will be under 20m.

Thoughts?

I think that during this year we will see similar numbers compared to last year (2012), my bet is that the numbers will fall between the current and with 1m+/-, max and minimum. The only reason I could see the handheld market fall is because of the DS and PSP, which will collapse.

And of course people are going to blame it on smarthphones, ignoring that the 3DS and Vita aren't exactly the strongest handheld offerings of all time...

Thanks APPLE ,We love you.

Due to smartphones and tablets and also because of the decline of the old generation, but next year should be better I guess.. with PSV selling better and 3DS keeping its way !

if you we're a dad and your kid asked you for a gaming device and you had to choose between a 200$ handheld plus 50$ for every game or a 399$ IPHONE with free games and 1$ games plus it's a phone.

What would you choose?

i would choose an iphone without even thinking about it.

Expecting the handheld market to grow under such tough circumstances would be lunacy. It's a transitional period, and obviously smartphones and tablets have changed the market radically. That doesn't mean there's no place for traditional handhelds, but the days of 200 million plus traditional devices being bought in a single generation could be over.

Vita's failure to do well this year has clearly hit the traditional handheld market hard, and Nintendo's inability to replicate 3DS's Japanese success in the West is another hugely important factor. Vita needs software and a price cut, and Nintendo need to bring out big games on a more consistent basis in the West if the handheld market is to begin growing again. They also need to take a damn good look at their digital policy. It's certainly improving, but mass market awareness of eShop and what you can get from eShop just doesn't exist. Pricing across retail and digital needs to be more flexible and needs to take into account the race-to-the-bottom pricing we've seen on app stores. That's not say Nintendo need to race to the bottom, but they do need to acknowledge that the market has changed and that a more flexible approach to pricing will help to push greater volumes of software, and in turn, make the hardware a more appealing proposition.

Why would think the market will decline ? I can see 3DS having a "monster" year in Japan and it will have a strong Q1 with many announced games and a strong winter.

And of course a remake or 6th gen Pokemon (which is a handheld killer app) could release this fall in Japan and in the holidays in the west.

Vita:

I think the Vita will get an official price cut soon and games like Soul Sacrifice and Tales will help in Japan (bumps in the weekly numbers)But yeah I don´t see the Vita succeeding in Japan until a Monster Hunter appear and the PSP support ends.The market in the west (mainly europe) will be much better for the Vita this year, with games like Killzone, Sly, Persona (europe),yearly Fifa and co.

The Playstation brand and the Champions League, NBA promotions will help too.

Last year nobody really cared because the Vita marketing was horrbile but now you can see many Vita commercials and ads.

i dont think it is decline in the handheld market. If anything the decline is attributed to the dying of the ds and psp. If handheld market is declining we will see a noticeable drop in the 3DS numbers, as the console has a large proportion of the market (not counting the previous gen).

The games on Smartphones and Tablets are pure shit, so why do people keep buying them?